Hi, we (house of 3) recently came to the end of our tenancy in mid-august. Two of us wanted to stay on and one wanted to leave. We notified the lettings agency and we found a new tenant to replace the one that had left. The lettings agency took a long while to do the referencing, and are now planning to have the new contract ready by the 1st of september.
They are stating that because we are changing the tenant we are subject to a £50 change of tenant fee. I was under the impression that this would only apply if it was within the original year tenancy length. Who is correct? I understand that there are costs involved in doing references but presumably they are lower than signing on 3 new tenants, moreover they say that they are not planning to do a new inventory etc.
As an extra question, since the 3rd tenant left mid august, and the new contract is to start on the 1st of september, we are not sure who is liable for the payment of the 2 week gap for the third tenant, is it the two remaining tenants? the new tenant wanted to move in in mid august but the letting agency was very slow to get references sorted.
Yes the estate can charge a reasonable fee to rerwrite a contract
Until a new contract is written you , the existing tenants , are liable for full rent of the existing contract
What’s the difference between rewriting a contract and signing a new contract? As in - if we were signing up as new, they wouldn’t be able to charge fees - but the law doesn’t cover this case?
The likelihood is your existing contract has not ended. It will have rolled into a periodic tenancy. The existing 3rd tenant may still be liable. It all depends on the situation of him leaving. If you have one AST with 3 tenants, and he gave notice, this may have terminated the existing tenancy agreement for all 3 of you, which raises the question what contract you are presently residing under!
Its all a bit difficult to advise without understanding the full picture. of how notice was served, was this accepted, has the existing contract ended etc…etc
If your original contract ended only the AST ended
It’s now a periodic contract with the original three tenants
If the third tenant is not paying you are liable
If you are bringing a new tenant a new contract needs to be written as that person needs to have a tenancy
You can’t run an old contract where the tenant has changed
It creates a potential plethora of problems
That’s very useful thank you - yes we have one AST with 3 tenants, and the 3rd tenant did give notice a couple of months prior, in case it comes down to the actual wording of that notice, here are some quotes from the notic:
I won’t renew my tenancy when the current lease expires on the 13th of August.
…
However, my housemates are interested in continuing their tenancy and are currently in the process of finding a third person to join them.
…
Please let me know if there are any specific procedures or forms I need to complete before my tenancy ends.
Yes i think what we had thought was happening was that the original AST would end and we would start a new AST with the new tenant. They are also not returning the deposit and are instead asking the new tenant to pay the old tenant the deposit directly
Your housemate has severed ties but you are joint and severally liable
So there is a contradiction
The whole thing is severed or not severed it can’t be partially severed
I think what you wanted to do was a swap
The agent has accepted essentially a change / swap
It’s a bit of a mess tbh
They have to rewrite a contract etc so it’s a clean slate
That’s very vague, but if I received that from a tenant I would accept it as notice of termination. I assume this was served the requisite period before the 13th August.
I would suggest that since 14th August you do not have any tenancy agreement. I haven’t seen any written correspondence from the agent to suggest how they interpreted the letter, which would be interesting.
Not necessarily. The landlord/agent could refuse to grant a new tenancy and then seek the removal of any who remain, who would at that point be tresspassers.
One joint tenant terminating an AST terminates it for all tenants. However, you do not have to give notice if intending to leave at the end of a fixed term. The leaving tenant has no further liability for rent. The remaining two tenants do have a contract as you are still paying rent, have possession and there is a clear understanding that two tenants are continuing to stay in the property. Hence, I would argue that the two remaining tenants from previous AST are liable for all the rent until the new third tenant actually moves in.
Proportion of deposit must be repaid to exiting tenant and new tenant pays their portion of deposit to agent. Doing it in the way described by the agent is littered with issues. Refuse. Best thing is for agent to return all of the deposit and then take it in again from the three tenants who will be staying in the property and issue a new contract. It is a new contract and their should be zero charges for this.
if you are happy there just pay the £50 and dont make a fuss. its a pretty fair deal. you will want a reference from them one day goodwill is important